Postell Can Bring Out `Semi-good` Youth Football Coach Sees The Best In Kids

August 14, 1987|By CHRIS LAZZARINO, Staff Writer

LAUDERHILL -- Listen to Jesse Postell`s stern commands and sharp whistle; watch him put his football players through calisthenics; notice the lack of smile. There isn`t a lot of love showing through.

Listen to the members of the Lauderhill 115-pound youth football team grunt and groan through leg lifts and pushups; watch their faces express growing exhaustion. There isn`t a lot of love showing through there, either.

Don`t be fooled.

Like thousands of volunteers who give freely of their time, Postell loves his labor.

``There are so many kids people call bad,`` said Postell, 36, while watching his players complete their pre-practice running. ``But I can look at the same child and see good. Every child is not the same. Some kids have bad grades, some are bad in school or in the community. But give them something to do, like football or baseball, and it`s amazing how things can work out.``

Everywhere youth athletics are seen, adult volunteers can be found. The huge Plantation Athletic League, for example, has nearly 700 volunteer positions that must be filled for its various programs to operate properly.

It`s doubtful that any professional parks and recreation administrator would say that youth programs could be operated at any level of excellence without volunteers. Government funds have many more priorities than paying three coaches to work with a t-ball team.

``I would need a lot of help without the volunteers,`` said Connie Thomas, Plantation`s supervisor of athletics. ``The city would have to hire a couple of assistants, plus pay for people to be in charge of each individual sport. If PAL were to no longer exist, it would be a huge job for the city and myself. Everyone in PAL is strictly volunteer, and they give a lot of time. I admire them for that.``

While speaking of the children around him, Postell smiles warmly, appearing to be the gentle and wise father-figure who has been a fixture on the Lauderhill athletic fields for most of this decade. But when the talk stops and the players begin to line up for their exercises, Postell turns stern.

He`s the worst nightmare of every person who ever endured youth football. He picks out slackers with a precise eye, and quickly moves between the four lines of horizontal players. The children watch his every move, and smirk when he begins his onslaught on a teammate.

As the exercises continue, Postell sees a group of boys watching the practice. He calls out to each and every one by name, and asks why they aren`t playing football. All say they are too old or too big to qualify for youth football, and Postell grimaces.

He wishes they would be involved with athletics, and despises the gaps in the system that leave talented boys inactive between youth football and high school.

``I am continually calling kids, trying to keep them in football,`` Postell said. ``And when I see kids on the street, I ask them if they are playing football. Once in a while the work does get you down, but that`s rare. Being with the kids puts me in good spirits.

``The reward might not be today or tomorrow, but 10 years down the road. Ten years from now I might see a kid I knew, and see that he`s even doing semi-good. He doesn`t have to be a professional athlete, just a good person. That`s what makes me happy.``

Arline Walker, current PAL treasurer, has been involved with the organization for nine years: ``There are few enough things being done today that are done for children without the adults looking only for self- gratification. I enjoy seeing our time and effort going to the kids, and seeing the kids grow and mature.``

Postell knows his rewards come every time he sees a child he coached grow to become even a ``semi-good`` adult. While a coach might not be the most important person in a child`s life, a good coach can have a positive influence.

The children aren`t the only ones who benefit.

``This has changed my life,`` Postell said. ``It`s the best father-and-son time you can have, and I have become a better person by being around all of the kids. I`m not a drinker, but I see guys sitting on the corner, drinking beer. I know that if I wasn`t here, I could be one of those guys.``